Re-entry in sucky waves?

[Aloha]

Sometimes when I go up to do a reo/hit the lip the wave unexpectedly hits a shallow section, the wave starts sucking hollow and I have two options, continue in freefall or push the board over the falls and jump over the back of the wave to safety. I always take the latter safe option.

The other day I decided to ride it out and couldn't get the nose up enough and ended up pulling some hip muscles when I impacted while riding the lip down. Ouch! My leg was too sore to continue surfing so I went in.

How do the experienced guys do this, do they judge the wave better and avoid this move in that situation, or do they just have more free fall experience? Obviously had I put more weight on the backfoot I would have come off better. It just goes against my instincts as I'm worried about snapping the board, and it's pretty shallow, hence the bottom falling out of the wave.

Did I aim my reo incorrectly should I have turned down earlier? Do I need a new hip? I've seen the pros do full on floaters off large waves and freefall so I guess I'm just wimping out.....

[jaytee]

yeah mate, it's just a judgement call on the particular wave. if you're already up top ready to snap and the wave is dropping out below i find you can put a bit of extra weight on the back foot to try and glide down the very steep/ non existant face. sometimes you may even be going down the face sideways but that still shouldnt be a problem. as you mentioned you could also stay up around the lip and go for a floater. those crazy little sucky sections can be really fun and challenging through just throwing something very unexpected at you, i kind of enjoy those days

have a good one

jt

edit: your best bet is to just watch how the better surfers at your break deal with the situation.

[isaluteyou]

judgement is everything i almost ate it when the reef went dry on me in a simular situation had to end up diving over the rocks into an open tube very lucky i wasnt hurt. Because of that i try to read the movements of the wave and anticipate each section. Not only is that a safer bet but by doing so you can make doing certain moves that much easier by doing it in the right position of the wave.

[Aloha]

Thanks for the info guys I'm just going to have to man up and learn through trial and error.

judgement is everything i almost ate it when the reef went dry on me in a simular situation

Lol I had a bit of a similar experience on my last overseas trip. The far inside section on this one right hander is really tempting but it just hits a ledge of reef and with no warning will pitch up and close out. I saw it just in time and got out in front of it, rather than get tricked into a reo but got washed into the shallows, the water drained away I was sitting on dry coral reef with only one bootie on. (I hate having a bootie on my front foot) I had real trouble getting my other reef bootie out of my boardie pocket and on in time to run along the reef to the water before a bomb set could kill me.

[Beachbum]

Yeah, wearing booties feels so weird, but I also got stuck on some ankle deep reef, and didn't have them on at the time...

[IB_Surfer]

I'm old, I no longer do closeouts. If I see a wall I either dive into it and come out the other side or turn out to the flats and take do a cannonball (unless shallow), I only go after "for sure" barrels. This of course, cuts down my barrel time, but I think it also extends my surfing years. I'm a 46yr old shortboarder, hope to keep it up for a while, need to preserve the body LOL